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(group member since Nov 01, 2012)
S.E.’s
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from the Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" group.
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Ok, this May-June we will have three topics to focus on! (Worlds Beyond Worlds: The Short Fiction of John R. Fultz was a close 4th place, so that'll be lead topic for July-Aug).
(1) Non-Fiction Discussion Folder link
(2) The Lost Empire of Sol Discussion Folder link
(3) Simon of Gitta Discussion Folder
Banner Credits
Three topics, cover art in banner represents them (cover artists below):
1) Non-Fiction represented by Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery : cover art by Tom Barber
2) Lost Empire of SolScott Oden Presents The Lost Empire of Sol: A Shared World Anthology of Sword & Planet Tales : cover art by M.D. Jackson 2021
3) Simon of Gitta Sorcery Against Caesar: The Complete Simon of Gitta Short Stories: cover art by Steven Gilberts 2020
Sorcery Against Caesar: The Complete Simon of Gitta Short StoriesOf course you do not need this book to read selected stories (i.e., I may just dig into The Scroll of Thoth: Simon Magus and the Great Old Ones: Twelve Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos)... but this new collection may be easier.
Book Blurb:
A REBEL AGAINST ROME
Simon of Gitta, an escaped slave turned magician, roves the Roman Empire battling dark magic and demons, all the while pursued by Caesar’s soldiers. Join Simon as he flees across the ancient world evading cultists and Legionaries, outwitting sorcerers and Centurions, and fighting gladiators and gods, even the deities of the Cthulhu Mythos. Yet all these foes cannot prepare him for his greatest challenge: the pursuit of his lost soul-mate Helen, a love so deep even death can’t stand in its way for long.
These stories were one of the inspirations for the Cthulhu Invictus campaign for the Call of Cthulhu role playing game by Chaosium.
Enjoy sixteen stories combining superbly researched historical fiction with sword & sorcery and Lovecraftian horror, including:
The Sword of Spartacus
The Fire of Mazda
The Seed of the Star-God
The Blade of the Slayer
The Throne of Achamoth
The Emerald Tablet
The Soul of Kephri
The Ring of Set
The Worm of Urakhu
The Curse of the Crocodile
The Treasure of Horemkhu
The Secret of Nephren-Ka
The Scroll of Thoth
The Dragons of Mons Fractus
The Wedding of Sheila-Na-Gog
The Pillars of Melkarth
Vengence Quest (poetry)
Scott Oden Presents The Lost Empire of Sol: A Shared World Anthology of Sword & Planet Tales
BookB Blurb
An exciting repository of the tales of an empire that pre-dates the solar system's recorded history. A spectacular homage of ten 'romantic tales of high adventure' written in the American pulp imagination style of breathless bravado. A return to an era when the exploration of time and the mystery of space travel held the attention of the reading world with heroes/heroines that faced dangerous unknowns with hopes and fists raised high!
20,000 years ago, the first Emperor of Sol ascended the Iridium Throne of Earth. A sorcerer who learned to extend his life through elixirs and potent demonic bargains, he ruled a thousand years, until deposed by a conspiracy among his wives. His youngest wife, the most cunning, became the first Empress of Sol and began the Imperial practice of tracing lineage through the female.
This anthology's "present" is 10,000 years after the Ruin of the Empire of Sol, an event immortalized by a cabal of poets who wove history with myth. Civil war erupted inside the Empire when warlords of another planet sought to seize the Iridium Throne of Earth. War rent the system, until finally a doomsday weapon was deployed. This weapon caused the Ruin; it shattered worlds and threw the citizens of the Empire into such a state of savagery that it has taken 10,000 years to make it to a current Dark Age. The worlds of the solar system have slowly emerged to reclaim only the most slender portion of the ancient splendor of the Empire. Through the combined efforts of sorcery and science, mankind and alienkind have returned to the stars in Aether ships, though even these are considered crude by the ancient Imperial standards.
Above them all looms a mysterious THREAT on the horizon. Augurs see bad omens, demon familiars speak of a coming cataclysm; a few ships have gone missing along the fringes of the system, only to be spotted and boarded later . . . ghost ships with missing crews. One had a cryptic note scrawled in blood: "They're coming!"
Foreword, by Fletcher Vredenburgh
Sword & Planet is the Genre We Need, by John O'Neill
Prologue, by Scott Oden
To Save Hermesia, by Joe Bonadonna & David C. Smith
The Lost Princess of Themos, by Tom Doolan
What Really Happened at the Center of the World, by Christopher M. Blanchard
A Sand-Ship of Mars, by Charles Allen Gramlich
Whispers of the Serpent, by Howard Andrew Jones
Outcasts of Jov, by Mark Finn
Written in Lightning, by Keith J. Taylor
Survivors of Ulthula, by E.E. Knight
Hunters of Ice and Sky, by David Hardy
A Gate In Darkness, by Paul R. McNamee
Epilogue, by Scott Oden
Our first ever Non-Fiction topic! Kudos to Clint for suggesting this.Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery is featured in the banner, but there are a lot to choose from, including several REH biographies.
.... or any of the pen pal letters between REH and other others.
Wrapped up Rakefire and Other Stories, and really enjoyed that. Wrote an epic review (because I can't write just one sentence): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Now I'm onto Turn Over the Moon.
Just heard about this June 1st, 2021 KickstarterSwords And Shadows Kickstarter Announce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=406kD...
On June 1st, Dream Tower Media will launch the Kickstarter for Issue number 4 of Sexy Fantastic: Swords & Shadows! Heroic fantasy sword and sorcery tales of seductive swordsman and barbarian babes, articles, conversations, an audiodrama, music, and all the other great things you’ve come to expect from Sexy Fantastic magazine!
Want a sample of the kind of quality publication you’ll be supporting? Get access to the first issue for FREE by signing up for the Sexy Fantastic Magazine newsletter at https://sexyfantasticmagazine.com/
Peter wrote: "Thanks to you both for the nice welcome. I don't think they will publish anymore of the special editions, but if we do a follow up collection that will have a limited hardcover run. I'll keep you p..."Peter, I've yet to write my review, but there is a lot to like about this volume that I plan to say.
1- Appendix N and related D&D literature is huge in scope.... and having one targeted on the "weirder" influences in wonderful
2- Blending classic's like REH's "Tower of the Elephant" with more obscure ones like Campbell's Ryre tale as well as David Madison's tale is perfect---it satisfies new and veteran readers of the genre
3- Organizing contributions by "level" is fun theme
4- The book design echoes the weird dungeon crawl and D&D theme
You know all this of course, but the intent and execution is spot on and appreciated.
Wow, Peter strolled by. Welcome! I wonder if any more Deluxe Editions will ever be made.
Of interest to this discussion is Jason Ray Carney's article on Black Gate. Recall, he was tasked with editing a volume (Savage Scrolls Volume One : Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery) to house some of the content from Price's controversial FS#6 collection (at least two stories found a new home there).BG: How Sword & Sorcery Brings Us to Life
An excerpt:
"For 21st-century readers of pulp fiction (and sword and sorcery specifically), this view of literary art is a horn of mead to a parched throat. Fans of pulp-origin sword and sorcery, the kind published in Savage Scrolls, read and write in a time when social activism and imaginative literature are bound together, from the left and the right. Legitimate concerns about representation of difference and the perpetuation of xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and racism seem to make pressing demands on writers in genre. New literary works are sometimes judged based on their moral vision, their political utility, and other non-aesthetic elements to which the sword and sorcery writer often seems indifferent (though not always).
In our current context, Morris’s pregnant question to his readers echoes in the mind of sword and sorcery fans everywhere: “Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time, / Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?” Should writers strive to set the crooked straight, to fix the broken world? Or, like Morris, should it suffice that “not-too-importunate” tales “wing” us to paradise?"
@Greg, Re: The Mask of the Sorcerer and whether it is S&S....I interviewed Darrell Schweizter (Black Gate link =https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/03/...)Even though "Mask" itself is not classis S&S, it evolved from his never published Conan pastiche "Conan the Deliverer" (not the midwife type, Darrell jokes in an essay). See the Unpublished Conan and Inspiration section in the interview.
Ok, the poll is live!Thanks go to members steering the content. Nods go to Clint who suggest a non-fiction/biography option (why have we never done that?).
Thanks to publishers like DMR, Pulp Hero Press, and Rogue Blades (among others) we have plenty of contemporary works/authors to read/discuss. So little time....such huge TBR piles
--> Link to Poll
Jason M wrote: "thanks Seth! Scott's name is properly spelled now, if you'd like to update the link :) Also, not quite out yet - Kindle 4/23, print before or by then."
Took me a while find the misspelling....I was sure you called him Scott Odin! Anyway, I found a missing-T and fixed that on Goodreads.
@Clint. You had me at "Grognards"!
I already pre-ordered, but that's a nice offer! folks, jump on that. Pledge your hearts and soul to John Carter
Scot Oden Presents The Lost Empire of Sol: A Shared World Anthology of Sword & Planet Tales also looks good... from Rogue Blades Foundation.Just released
An exciting repository of the tales of an empire that pre-dates the solar system's recorded history. A spectacular homage of ten 'romantic tales of high adventure' written in the American pulp imagination style of breathless bravado. A return to an era when the exploration of time and the mystery of space travel held the attention of the reading world with heroes/heroines that faced dangerous unknowns with hopes and fists raised high!
20,000 years ago, the first Emperor of Sol ascended the Iridium Throne of Earth. A sorcerer who learned to extend his life through elixirs and potent demonic bargains, he ruled a thousand years, until deposed by a conspiracy among his wives. His youngest wife, the most cunning, became the first Empress of Sol and began the Imperial practice of tracing lineage through the female.
This anthology's "present" is 10,000 years after the Ruin of the Empire of Sol, an event immortalized by a cabal of poets who wove history with myth. Civil war erupted inside the Empire when warlords of another planet sought to seize the Iridium Throne of Earth. War rent the system, until finally a doomsday weapon was deployed. This weapon caused the Ruin; it shattered worlds and threw the citizens of the Empire into such a state of savagery that it has taken 10,000 years to make it to a current Dark Age. The worlds of the solar system have slowly emerged to reclaim only the most slender portion of the ancient splendor of the Empire. Through the combined efforts of sorcery and science, mankind and alienkind have returned to the stars in Aether ships, though even these are considered crude by the ancient Imperial standards.
Above them all looms a mysterious THREAT on the horizon. Augurs see bad omens, demon familiars speak of a coming cataclysm; a few ships have gone missing along the fringes of the system, only to be spotted and boarded later . . . ghost ships with missing crews. One had a cryptic note scrawled in blood: "They're coming!"
Foreword, by Fletcher Vredenburgh
Sword & Planet is the Genre We Need, by John O'Neill
Prologue, by Scott Oden
To Save Hermesia, by Joe Bonadonna & David C. Smith
The Lost Princess of Themos, by Tom Doolan
What Really Happened at the Center of the World, by Christopher M. Blanchard
A Sand-Ship of Mars, by Charles Allen Gramlich
Whispers of the Serpent, by Howard Andrew Jones
Outcasts of Jov, by Mark Finn
Written in Lightning, by Keith J. Taylor
Survivors of Ulthula, by E.E. Knight
Hunters of Ice and Sky, by David Hardy
A Gate In Darkness, by Paul R. McNamee
Epilogue, by Scott Oden
Clint, brilliant. We never had a nonfiction/biography topic!
I'm starting to get ideas for the May-June groupread. Could use some feedback (more ideas to populate the poll).
1) Conan Pastiche
2) John R. Fultz has a collection via DMR coming out April...WORLDS BEYOND WORLDS
3) Any Pulp Hero Press book (I have ~5+ on top of my TBR pile, including the below)
-Sometime Lofty Towers
-Savage Scrolls Volume One : Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery
-Mad Shadows III: The Heroes of Echo Gate
-The Dream Lords Book One : Rebellion
-Rakefire and Other Stories
Thoughts?
The Joy of Erudition wrote: "Phil wrote: "I was struck with your comment that you're reluctant to mention writers who haven't appealed to you. As I used to tell my students, that's fine, but actually talking intelligently..."..."
Hey Joy. Nice reflections. Perhaps instead of nostalgia proper...you could revisit book(s) that served as a gateway into S&S for you [ie regardless of how old you were...or how long ago that was in time]. I think that is the spirit here of remembering.
[question for anyone]
So did you have a book that steered you down the S&S path?
